


In Defence of the Guilty and on Behalf of the Liars

by sparkeythehamster



Category: Garrow's Law
Genre: Conversations, M/M, Mentions of William Garrow/Lady Sarah, Suggestions of Slash, drunken conversations, sodomy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:15:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4728980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparkeythehamster/pseuds/sparkeythehamster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Do you really think that man was innocent of Sodomy?”<br/>Garrow frowned; he had not been expecting visitors this evening. Despite his victory in The Bailey today he had several personal matters to think on, namely the case growing against him and Lady Sarah.<br/>And yet here stood Silvester leaning smugly against his doorframe, a bottle of something in one hand in offering.</p><p>(Set between S02e02 and S02e03)</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Defence of the Guilty and on Behalf of the Liars

**Author's Note:**

> Writing stories for the first of a pairing is always hard. So please forgive any errors in character I may have made or any problems with the setting. I hope you all enjoy though.

“Do you really think that man was innocent of Sodomy?”  
Garrow frowned; he had not been expecting visitors this evening. Despite his victory in The Bailey today he had several personal matters to think on, namely the case growing against him and Lady Sarah.  
And yet here stood Silvester leaning smugly against his doorframe, a bottle of something in one hand as a peace offering.

For a few moments Garrow considered just shutting the door in his face rather than answering the question, but part of him was so surprised at actually finding the prosecutor standing at his door that his curiosity was beginning to work against him.

Silvester took the hesitation as an opportunity to walk in, placing the bottle down on the table, looking around expectantly for glasses.

“Well this is a pleasant hovel you’ve found yourself” the smaller man commented, taking in Garrow’s single room accommodation with a smirk.

Finally, having managing to recover from his surprise, Garrow turned, eyes still narrowed at the other lawyer, “are you here for something Mr Silvester?”

The other man hummed, “friendly conversation Garrow that’s all. You do know that it is common practise for the other lawyers to have each other to dinner, you have to be the only one who hasn’t invited anyone… or been invited anywhere else.”

Seating himself down on one of the cheap looking wooden chairs, Silvester crossed his legs patiently, still apparently waiting for Garrow to bring glasses.  
“So this is you coming for dinner then?”  
Silvester shrugged, “I suppose it is.”

He and Silvester were of a similar age, although Garrow couldn’t say for sure which one of them might have a few more years on the other, and yet they seemed to live in completely different worlds. Silvester for instance looked completely out of place in his poky little home, sat in a seat that may collapse at any minute, amongst the spiders and the cobwebs of the apartment. Garrow was imagining Silvester probably lived in some fine house somewhere in London, probably having inherited family money, where he sat in polite contentment in the Summer House, enjoying his breakfast on soft cushioned chairs. But it was obvious to anyone that this was where Garrow belonged, and that was where Silvester belonged.

“Well are you going to get any glasses for us?” Silvester had apparently grown tired of waiting for Garrow to catch the hint. Instinctively Garrow reached out towards the cupboard, pulling out two wine glasses, which he placed down on the table.  
Silvester hummed again, pouring a generous amount into each glass, bringing his own to his lips, almost downing the whole thing in one swig.  
“So, you never answered my question?”

“The one about the case?” Garrow scoffed, “I don’t really see how it is any of your business, I won the case, your client admitted to lying about the offence remember.”  
But Silvester wasn’t deterred, “Oh come on Garrow we all know that bloke was as Sodomite,” Silvester downed the rest of his drink and began to help himself to another, “And I think I’ve gotten to know you well enough over the last year to say that if I knew then you knew,” he tutted, “withholding evidence from the court, our dear judge would not be happy about that.”

“Mr Southouse will be able to tell you that no such conversation took place” Garrow told him carefully, sipping his own wine with a bit more patience, the bitter taste washing over his taste buds, not a cheap vintage by the taste of it.

Silvester waved at him, starting on his third glass.

“Don’t treat me like an idiot Garrow, you’re always doing that,” Silvester peered at him over his glass, an edge of annoyance creeping into his relaxed features.  
Garrow opened his mouth to protest, and then closed it again. It seemed like Silvester had probably had something to drink before coming here, and since arriving he’d downed three more glasses of wine.

Although he knew Silvester was the one to have brought it, Garrow steadily began to pull the bottle away from him,  
“I know you’re not an idiot Silvester, proud and arrogant perhaps…”

Silvester smirked, “You’re one to talk.”

The two men stared at each other for a moment, each sizing the other up for some form of witty attack and in preparation of any defence. Then Silvester relaxed and smiled, “You know The Bailey’s been a lot more fun since you arrived, you actually make the job challenging.”

Garrow blinked hesitantly, “Umm… thank you?” He wasn’t sure if this was intended to be a compliment or not, it was sometimes hard to tell with Silvester exactly what his motivations were.

“So?” It seemed like the darker haired man was back to his question, clearly he wasn’t going to leave until he had an answer.  
So with a sigh, Garrow resigned himself to at least discussing the subject.

“Well, if we were to say he was, I do believe there is a big great difference between the act when consented to and when not consented to.” Why was he having this conversation with Silvester? It was the sort of thing he might usually discuss with Sarah, or Mr Southouse, not with his rival barrister.

“But the law is the law Garrow” Silvester reminded him, almost playfully, “To those inclined to the habit of sodomy the penalty is death.”

The taller man tensed irritably, “there are a lot of crimes or ‘so-called crimes’ that carry the death penalty, that doesn’t make them right.” Unconsciously Garrow took another drink to calm his nerves as he felt the anger rising, as it always did when he thought about the state of the law.

Silvester however only seemed amused by his annoyance. “You truly believe that Garrow? I would love to hear you declare that in Court, and then Parliament wouldn’t have to go through this whole façade of dragging you and Lady Sarah through the courts.”

Garrow’s head turned sharply. He had once challenged Silvester to a duel over Lady Sarah’s honour, and while he wasn’t about to pull something that ridiculous again, punching Silvester in the face and throwing him out of his house was surely still a possibility.

But the other man was still waiting expectantly for some form of reply, looking like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“What is being set up against me and Lady Sarah is no more real than the wigs we wear to court” he snapped instead, deciding that there would always be other opportunities to give Silvester what was coming to him, preferably through humiliation in future trials.  
The dark haired male waved his hand dismissively, “God I know that Garrow, calm yourself, if it was just you I wouldn’t be so sure, you tend to act rather impulsively, but I happen to know Lady Sarah too, and she’s not the sort to risk everything just like that.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Garrow questioned, the anger rising back in his voice.

“I simply mean that even if she holds the same feelings you obviously feel for her, then she has been far more sensible about how she’s conducted herself, if anybody has made Sir Arthur suspicious it is probably you,” the other lawyer pulled large misty eyes at him, waving towards his face, breaking the expression with a grin, “every time Lady Sarah walks into a room, all I need to do is look at your face to know she’s there.”

Garrow felt his face flush; he really had no words for that. He was aware that his eyes naturally drifted to the beautiful woman when she entered, but he wasn’t aware it had created such an impression.  
He poured himself another glass, allowing Silvester to take the bottle from him to help himself to the last of it.

“So what? You’re hoping Sir Arthur wins? Ruins me? You’d rule the courthouse again of course,” he bit his lip as he heard a few of his words slur, evidently he’d drunk more than he’d intended, but his wits were still about him, that was a good sign.

Silvester coughed as he downed his own glass, eyes watering as he spluttered, shaking his head.  
“Quite the opposite” he managed to cough out, wrapping his chest with his fist before regaining himself, “I already said it before, the place would be boring without you, and despite what I know you think of me, when I’m not the acting prosecutor I do actually want to see the truth come out.”

Garrow couldn’t help but smile slightly in amusement here, “well it’s not my fault you end up defending so many you have to deflect the truth from to defend.”  
The other man shrugged, “Just as you must take on the defence of the guilty, I must speak on behalf of the liars, what funny jobs we have.” Silvester got to his feet, wobbling slightly as he steadied himself, having had quite a bit more to drink than Garrow, and quite a bit more quickly.

By Habit Garrow stood up as well, wondering whether he would need to steady his guest, but it seemed like Silvester had gotten his sense of balance back.

“Well I should be going,” the smaller man smiled charmingly, moving over to the door, “we should do this again sometime though, maybe my place.” He paused as he reached the door, turning back, “So you defend the guilty and sometimes agree with them then?”

They were back to their first conversation.

Garrow hummed and nodded, “The laws aren’t perfect and neither are the men who make them.”

“Indeed” Silvester consented with a shrug of his shoulders, “But…” He turned his hand on the doorknob, “Considering the way you pick up gossip,” the playful teasing smile was back, “I’d be careful just how many sodomites you took on, after all we’re in a profession of gowns and fancy wigs, we’re practically half way there already.”

Returning the smile, Garrow nodded, “Duly noted.”

Then the door opened and Silvester vanished off round the other side, hopefully still sober enough to find himself a carriage to take him home.


End file.
